Learning to Cope
by Your-Guilty-Pleasure
Summary: What happens when Abby and Stephen start to build a relationship and suddenly, everything takes a turn for the worse?  Who has to learn to cope with it?  Will anyone help?  **Much better than summary sounds, Pre-Series 2 ending.**
1. Once Upon A Drunken Night

"Are you sure about this?" The man asked, his voice slightly slurry due to the amount of liquor he had partaken of.

He had dark hair that was cut off short, and the muscles of his chest and abdomen (exposed to her due to him being shirtless) were tightly toned and very pleasant to look at, his skin was tanned to bronze color, and his eyes we're swirling with excitement and anticipation. Or was the just the booze?

Truth be told, she didn't know what she was sure or unsure about. Here was this half naked man, with a gloriously sculpted body, whose finely toned arms were beginning to snake around her waist, his eyes smoldering down at her; and he was asking her to make a conscience choice? She had plenty of liquor in her system as well, that was adding to her inability to make a decision.

Maybe going out to the pub with the rest of the ARC team to celebrate their victorious find was a bad idea. Sure, while it lasted it was fun. Then she came to find Connor had taken her car to take Nick and Jenny hone, Connor being the designated driver tonight, leaving her with no ride. That's when he offered. They had been laughing together all night, making jokes at the others' expense. So it was of no great shock to her when he appeared next to her outside the pub. He said the his place wasn't far from the pub and she could wait there since it was about to start raining. Of course she agreed, her feet were killing her from running the way she had today. He was of no danger to her anyway, she could just call Connor to come retrieve her from there.

The short walk to his flat had been filled with drunk conversations of past missions, encounters with all sorts of people, and feeling towards other members of the team.

Abby, stumbled a few times, leaning into him for support. He helped her graciously and with a huge lop-sided smile.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you have _extremely_ white teeth?" Abby asked, once they had entered his flat. "Oh wow. Everything is white." She observed.

"No, but did anyone ever tell you that you're cute when you pout? I bet that's why Connor makes you mad all the time, cause you make such a cute face when you pout." He laughed, as he shut the door behind them.

"Maybe." Abby to tried to conceal her blush.

She turned on her heels to face him, not realizing just how close he had been to her. Suddenly they were face to face, well almost except for the fact he towered over her.

All the heat was rushing back to her face. Her heart rate increased when he suddenly started to bend his head down towards her.

"Abby," He muttered, his lips floating slightly above hers.

She found it hard to fight off the urge to press up on her tip-toes and meet his lips. After all, they too looked very inviting and soft.

"Yeah?" She breathed, switching her focus from his lips to his eyes.

"I want to kiss you." His lips still floated tantalizingly above hers.

"Really?" Her hands found the tail of his shirt and gripped it tightly in both fists.

His lips brushed lightly over hers, sending chills and rockets of tingles shooting through her body, "Yeah. What should I do?"

Abby took a second to regain her breath, "You should do it."

Her head did a few quick nods, proving her point.

He needed no more encouragement, his lips crashed onto hers. Holding them greedily. Abby had no objections to it, she enjoyed the feeling that she was getting from this.

She got too carried away with the kiss, seeing as her hands had suddenly pulled open his shirt (popping off a few of its buttons in the process). He shrugged it off his shoulders, not bothering to really notice it was gone.

_"Are you sure about this?_"

Maybe if she was drunk and he was drunk in the morning it wouldn't matter, or they could swear into secrecy. No matter what happened, she liked this feeling to much to let it go. Add in the fact that she was too drunk to care, was being kissed by an incredibly good looking man, and had a crush on him-the favors are for yes.

"Yes," She pressed up on his tip-toes to press her lips to his, "Stephen."

* * *

_**One shot? Do I need to stick to other stuff? Just so you know, I have an interesting plot line...sort of...well I liked it anyway. LOL. Please tell me what you think so I'll know to write chapter 2! Thanks for reading!**_

_**RAWR**_


	2. The Morning After

_**A/N: Oh wow! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! So without further ado, here is chapter two! Hope you enjoy it!**_

Waking-up the next morning was strange. Abby wasn't used to waking up in someone's arms; least of all Stephen Hart's arms.

Abby's eyes fluttered open to the most surprising sight she'd ever been graced with. One of the most handsome ones too.

She eased her head out from the nook of Stephen's neck, very carefully. She didn't want to disturb the Stephen who she was looking at. He was completely at ease. His tan face was calm and tranquil, his strong arms wrapped securely over her waist. She let her eyes fall for a second, and he was shirtless once more.

She wanted to giggle like a dumb little school girl, but she was older than that.

Stephen's arms tighten around her suddenly, pressing her against his bare chest, as he nuzzled around on his pillow.

"Humm-en." He muttered.

Abby was trying to decide to go back to sleep or just stay awake and lay in Stephen's amazing arms; when her mobile went off in her pants pocket next to the bed.

That's when reality struck her. She'd slept with Stephen Hart. Someone she would have to see at work everyday for the rest of the time she worked at the ARC. Someone who she knew had an unstable past when dealing with relationships.

Thoughtlessly, she flung her body out of Stephen's grip and off the side of the bed. Desperately searching for her jeans. Once she did find them, she answered the phone in a rush.

"Hello?" Her voice was both hurried and sleepy. "Jenny? Yeah it was a odd night."

Abby folded her legs underneath her, looking back at the bed, where Stephen was now beginning to stir.

"I know. I should have called him, I bet he has gone bonkers looking for me." Abby yawned, "Wait, what? He knew-how?"

"I sent him a text last night, before we left the pub so he would know." Stephen groaned sleepily.

Abby's mouth fell open at Stephen's statement.

"Yeah, I'm still here." Abby told Jenny, pushing Stephen's statement aside, "Okay. Well, see you later."

She snapped her phone shut and dropped it to the floor, shaking her head in disbelief.

Why would she sleep with Stephen? That was just about one of stupidest decisions she could have made! Well for what she could remember, it was brilliant. Nonetheless stupid on her part.

Her head fell in defeat. At least she had a shirt and her knickers on! There was some dignity restored to her. Lord knows what Stephen thought about her now!

Abby groaned, pulling her legs from under her and sitting Indian style on the floor with her back to the bed.

"So." Stephen said from the bed.

"So." Abby echoed as she brought her fingers up to message her throbbing temples, also trying to fight off tears.

"I guess that's that." Stephen sighed.

"Um, yeah, I guess so." Abby's head snapped up and she shoved up onto her feet. "Look, no strings attached. I'll call Connor-"

"Whoa. Wait a minute, what're you talking about?" Stephen sat up in the bed, for Abby to see his entire upper naked body. Abby had to wonder if he was only wearing the sheet.

"I get it. We were drunk-"

"Is that what it was to you? A vat drunk sex?" Stephen rubbed his hand down over his face.

Abby was stumped by his question, "Well," she redirected her focus to the ceiling. "is that what it was to you?"

Stephen gave her a cross look. "Treating your co-workers like a male prostitutes, not right." He flung the sheet off of him, confirming to Abby he had a pair of navy blue boxers on.

"I'm not treating you like that!" Abby protested.

"Well, you are sure acting like that." Stephen countered.

"Well I didn't mean too. Its just that we work together-" Abby was trying to think of a reason, "and it will be awkward."

The conversations were kept to minimum after that. Connor showed up in about an hour to retrieve Abby. Took her back to flat, where she showered; then they left for work.

Abby could sense the difficulty Connor was having bringing a conversation up. After all, he had just picked her up from Stephen's house. She was sure that he wanted her to assure him upon getting in the car that nothing had happened, but she hadn't. She only thanked him for coming to get her.

Once they were at the ARC things loosened up a bit. Everyone got to separate in their respective areas. No one had to look at each other or talk about events of last night.

Until Jenny approached Abby with somewhat of a confession.

"I can't believe I did something so unprofessional last night."

"Drinking? Oh come on, everyone does it." Abby tried to lighten the mood.

"No, not that. Connor left me with Cutter last night." Jenny recalled with an exasperated sigh, "You can guess how that ended."

"Like my night." Abby muttered in an undertone.

"Sorry?" Jenny lifted her attention from the floor to look at Abby, "Didn't catch that."

"Nothing. Its nothing." Abby forced a smile up on her face. "I won't breathe it to a soul. I promise." Abby reassured her friend with a smile.

Stephen and Cutter both came strutting in at that moment. Each one laughing at something that had been said between the two of them. Both women stopped to maintain gasps.

Cutter tossed a soft look over to Jenny, who managed to nod professionally back. Stephen on the other hand, still had his disapproval look towards Abby. She hadn't meant to hurt his -feelings this morning, honestly. But what could they make of a one-night-completely-amazing-night-she-will-never-forget-drunken stand?

She wished something could be made out of it, but she had to live in reality.

"Well, ladies," Cutter said as they finally made it to where Abby and Jenny were. "This is a slow day isn't?"

There was Cutter trying to make small talk. Connor joined them, claiming to not want to be left out of a 'team' meeting at Abby's desk.

A few things were discussed in their small circle, each one keeping away from the events of last night.

Abby kept tossing apologetic looks over at Stephen, who was seemingly attempting to ignore her.

"Guys," Stephen finally spoke up.

Abby's eyes flashed a warning over to him as everyone shifted their attention to him.

"I want to clear something up." He stepped through the middle of the small circle over to where Abby was and firmly planted his hands on her shoulders. His lips bent down and caught hers so fast she barely realized what was going on.

Well, if he didn't have everyone's attention he did now. Most of all Abby's.

He finally cut the kiss off and cleared his throat after turning to face everyone."Abby and I were together last night. So to clear up any _awkwardness_ or confusion, we are now **together**." He announced boldly.

Each member exchanged looks of shock and disbelief. Including Abby, who was still trying to recover from the sudden kiss.

* * *

_**Not long I know. Not as good as the first chapter either, I'm trying to build the storyline though. Things will come into full swing soon enough. THANKS FOR READING!=**_

**_RAWR_**


	3. Building A Relationship

Connor was the first one to react to the situation, he stifled out a "oh, that's good," then he shuffled away from the group.

Abby wanted so desperately to follow after him, to try and comfort that disheartened look on his face.

"Well, appears we're not the only one who had an eventful night." Cutter laughed, looking over at Jenny.

Jenny gave him a cross look, advising him to shut-up if he wanted to live. She then walked away in a huff, her heels clicking behind her every step.

Cutter shrugged his shoulders and chuckled once more before chasing after her to apologize.

In a second, Abby drew her fist back and punched Stephen in the arm. "Why on earth did you do that?"

"What?" Stephen defended, rubbing the spot Abby had punched. She was tough for being so small.

"That!" She motioned with her hands around the area where the entire team had been standing only minutes ago. "Why would you do that? And in front of Connor?"

"Connor? Abby do you like Connor?" Stephen raised an eyebrow at her, "If so, you really-"

"Shut-up! You know Connor is-" Abby trailed off looking for a word.

"Sensitive?" Stephen offered.

"Yes!" Abby hissed, "That was completely unfair to him."

"Abby," Stephen took a step closer to her, so now he was standing in front of her. "He is fine. Remember Caroline?"

Sadly, yes, she did. Abby hated the woman with a passion. How Connor could even associate with her was beyond Abby's comprehension.

"Yeah." Abby admitted.

Stephen held back his comment for a minute, allowing Abby to fully remember the situation.

"Abby. . . do you still fancy me?"

Abby's mouth opened and closed, unable to come up with a response. Yeah, of course she still fancied him.

Finally she nodded.

"Wonderful. I'm bored with being single." Stephen made it all sound so easy.

Or was she just making it complicated. She didn't have a boyfriend, well now she does. Kind of.

"If this is some stupid joke Stephen, I'll kick you into the next open anomaly. I'll do it without a second thought too." Abby warned playfully.

"Well I consider myself warned." Stephen smiled down at her.

**0O0o0o0o0o0**

Awkward wasn't really the word Abby would use for being in a relationship with Stephen. It was. . . different. They saw each other everyday. Nothing had changed much in their relationship except...well the additional kissing and whatnot. Abby rather enjoyed that part to be honest. Stephen was fairly good at make her swoon.

The one downer to this relationship is that Connor had been cross with her ever since it started. Ever since the day Stephen announced them a couple, Connor and Abby's friendship has lost its 'carefree' essence. He spent much more time with that awful Caroline, irritating Abby when he would bring her over to the flat. Seems like every time that witch came around, Abby and Connor would argue. After each argument, Abby would leave the flat in a flight of fury and go straight to Stephen's. Where she would proceed to cry as he comforted her in his own way.

"Don't you ever get mad that I come over here to cry over Connor?" Abby asked, leaning her head against Stephen's chest.

They hadn't even made it out of the doorway, this time.

Stephen rubbed her back in a loving way, guiding her into his flat, so he could finally shut the door.

"No, he is your best mate. Its natural to be sad when you and your best mate fight." She could hear a smile in Stephen's tone, making her mind ease.

"Its that stupid Caroline! I hate her! I know it was her that locked Rex in the fridge! She is so-sooo-Horrid!" Abby's tone was still frustrated.

"Shh, love, this is Connor's choice." Stephen reminded her.

Abby's mind stewed on that for a bit. True it was. But that didn't mean she had to just let it happen! Caroline was awful! How Connor could-Abby would never know and she was frankly tired of thinking about it. She was here with her boyfriend.

"Thank you for understanding."Abby finally sighed, hugging Stephen back.

Stephen opted to stay quiet, instead of responding.

**0O0o0o0o0o0**

"Stayed with Stephen again did you?" Connor asked upon Abby's entering the main lab of the ARC the next morning.

"Yeah, I stayed with my **boyfriend**. I suppose your girlfriend stayed over as well." Abby tossed her jacket onto her desk.

She was starting to grow extremely grateful for her stash of clothes over at Stephen's. Since Connor was bringing Caroline over almost everyday, Abby had been hiding out over at Stephen's a lot. It wasn't her usual behavior, but her life wasn't the way it used to be.

A bonus was how good a a cook Stephen was, she was even putting on weight from eating so much.

In fact, of late, she had been getting irritated very easily.

"No, she didn't." Connor defended, "We're not so young and rash with our relationship that we need to have constant physical contact."

Abby drew in a breath, "More like she won't let you!" She snapped back.

Connor narrowed his eyes at Abby, "That's really mature, Abby."

"Would you two quit arguing like old hens!" Cutter broke into their argument.

Both Abby and Connor silenced their argument, turning of their heels to make sure their back was to the other.

"Abby, where is Stephen?" Cutter asked.

"He said he be in late. Some sort of meeting with a mate." Abby's tone was sour.

"Doesn't even know what her own boyfriend is up too." Connor scoffed.

"Yeah, well, Caroline doesn't either does she?" Abby bit back.

"That's it!" Cutter's voice over-powered them, "If you two don't stop this bloody arguing, I'm going to lock you in a room until you get over whatever it is!"

"Connor is still dating the devil-STILL!" Abby retorted.

"Yeah, well at least I don't skip out on missions for fake doctor's appointments when I really want to go off and have sex with me boyfriend!" Connor spun around to face Abby once more.

"Connor! That was only two times and I did go to the doctor! The first time there was no anomaly or anything!" Abby spun around to face him as well, heated glares radiating between them. "You have no idea what you are talking about! So just shut-up! "

"Both of you shut-up! Look at you! Used to be the best of mates you did!" Cutter interjected, throwing a bucket of water on their argument.

Abby's mind clicked off the rest of the lecture, focusing all her attention on keeping the vomit rising in her throat down. She did her best to suppress her gagging, as she slowly turned to run for the locker room.

"Connor, you had better cool your jets before-Abby?" Cutter noticed Abby abandon his speech and run for the double door entrance. "Abby?"

Stephen was coming in just as she shoved on of the doors open, with her hand still clamped firmly over her mouth.

At first, he tossed a questioning look over to Cutter and Connor. Cutter's expression was confusion, while Connor looked worried and mad at the same time.

"Abby?" He backed out the door to chase Abby down the hall.

"Happy now Connor?" Cutter's voice tore Connor's stare away from the door.

"I didn't do that to her!" He defended himself.

"No, but you are acting like a complete fool!" Connor was taken back at Cutter's accusation, "Why is it that you keep shoving Abby away?"

"Me? She is the one acting like a bloody lunatic, always making snide comments to me girlfriend."

"Well, after everything that has happened I can't blame her. You're lucky she hasn't kicked you out for being such a pain." That was Cutter's last statement before heading back to his own office.

**0O0o0o0o0o0**

"Are you sure you're okay?" Stephen asked as he and Abby walked back out of the locker room.

"Yeah, just a bad bout with some food poisoning." Abby smiled, now she had another thing to be grateful for. Having a toothbrush and toothpaste in her locker!

"Awful stuff." Stephen said with a smile of his own, throwing his arm around Abby.

"Yeah." Abby agreed as they were once more entering the ARC's main lab.

"Come on you two!" Cutter urged, brushing past them, with Connor right on his heels. "We've got an anomaly!"

"Where?" Stephen asked as both he and Abby turned on their heels to follow after Cutter and Connor.

"That seems to be the problem. We don't know. All we know is that we've got a missing boy on our hands." Cutter explained.

"Well, that's extremely unhelpful." Stephen added.

The trip to the site was uneventful and quiet. Stephen and Cutter did fill in the silence with banter about what could be happening. Being at the site was just about as uneventful; though Stephen did make Abby's time pass a little bit faster. When they caught a break, he would come over and strike up a very entertaining conversation with her that usual ended up with them kissing.  
By nightfall, when they could really start searching, they'd found out a few things. It was a water creature and it was in the canal. Much to Abby's dismay, she was sent off with Connor and Jenny, while Stephen and Cutter went in their own boat. It would be soon after that, that Jenny fell into the water and almost got eaten by one of the creatures. Lucky, for her Stephen and Cutter came up in time to save her.

"Good job Stephen!" Abby yelled.

After all, he'd shot the beast before it had a chance to get to Jenny.

"You okay?" Stephen called over into the other boat to Abby.

"Yeah, yeah, is Jenny?" Abby was trying to calm her heart down, after all, she thought she was going to have to watch her teammate get eaten.

"I'm fine." Jenny panted out.

"Get the body back to the ARC ASAP." Stephen said into his walkies-talkie, before jumping over to Abby and Connor's boat.

Instantly, he engulfed Abby in a hug. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm fine, honestly, I mean, poor Jenny." Abby hugged him back briefly.

Once they got back to the ARC, Connor high-tailed it back to the flat, while Cutter, Stephen, and Abby all stayed to study the 'shark'. All they gained from this experience was that this might be the future evolution of the shark and that it didn't have the boy.

"Are you coming over tonight?" Stephen asked as they watched a team of professionals depose of the shark's body.

"No, I'm going to head back to my place for a nice long shower. I feel horridly gross after just watching that." Abby shuddered in disgust.

"Well, okay, we're dragging the canal again in the morning, so I'll see you then." He kissed her gently.

"Yeah, then." Abby smiled.

**0O0o0o0o0o0**

Abby's morning could have gone better. She woke-up with the feeling of needing to vomit, rushed to the bathroom and was in so much of a hurry she forgot to close the door. So when Connor walked by and saw her convulsing over the toilet, he of course had to stop and watch. He started pestering her with all sorts of stupid questions about 'anorexia' and 'self-image'. Finally she had to snap at him to go away, that he had no clue what he was talking about.

Finally, once the nausea went away, she removed herself from the floor and managed to brush her teeth. Her mind was swirling so fast she couldn't pick a thought to stick with. Maybe she was coming down the flu. That would make sense. The doctor she had seen was stupid to suggest she might be-no. Couldn't happen. Well it could, but it didn't. No way. She was far too irregular for that to happen.

After an hour's time, she and Connor were finally ready to leave. The entire time he talked about how he would never pressure Caroline into feeling she wasn't good enough. And other things Abby didn't care to listen to.

Once they arrived at the canal, she was forced to go with Cutter and Connor. This in addition to the headache she felt coming on, were the toppers on her morning.

She and Connor stuck up their usual bickering, while out on the boat. Cutter got irritated once more, and told them to shut-up again.

Abby put a lock down on her temper. No use getting mad at them if she was going to be stuck on a boat with them for hours.

"Somethings going on, we're being watched." Cutter said, while pressing the headphones to his ear.

"Lester?" Connor offered to their conversation.

"Maybe." Cutter shifted his focus towards listening to the noises coming from under the water.

"We should get Stephen." Abby suggested halfheartedly.

"Shh!" Cutter silenced her instantly, making her role her eyes and look the other way.

Connor glanced back at her for a moment, swelling in victory like a child that got out of a scolding. She rolled her eyes at him as well and crossed her arms over her chest.

Abby did her best to ignore the rest of their conversation.

_Men_, she thought icily.

She did manage to keep to herself while they changed positions. Cutter dropped the speaker into the water to play their recordings and she did her job of watching the water for whatever it was she was supposed to see. Well did so, until she saw some sort of creature's face in the water staring up at her.

She whipped back instantly, "Guys."

Both men looked at her.

She then realized her imagination could be getting the best of her, "Nothing."

With that, they went back to their headphones.

They moved to a new area again, this time Abby decided to just stand aside and try to clear her head.

"We should be helping Stephen search the canal!" Connor's tone was frustrated.

For once today, Abby would agree with him. She would rather be with Stephen. Things would be a lot more fun if they were with Stephen. For her they would be at least.

"Its not in the canal." Cutter countered.

A smile formed over Abby's face. Stephen had sent her a text last night saying that him and Cutter were in a bit of a disagreement. At least they weren't asking her to pick sides, because she really could never choose between the two. One is her boyfriend and one is like her father!

Suddenly, Abby's body was being jerked backwards, off the boat. Before she knew what was going on or could scream, she was under water. She kicked and fought against whatever had a hold on her, but it was proving to be a useless task.

Her mouth released the breath of air she had been holding when the creature, dragging her down, squeezed her against it's body. Panic was setting in. She knew you were supposed to remain calm during this type of thing, but she couldn't find it in her to. For all she knew, this was the end of her story. The inky blackness that surrounded her might be the last thing she ever see's. The freezing water might be the last thing she ever feels. And memories of the last year, might be the last ones she'll ever recall.

She didn't want to die mad at Connor, as brilliantly daft as he might be, he was her best mate. She hated that they'd spent the last few weeks fighting. She didn't want to fight with him. He really meant so much to her. For a while she'd been on the verge on fancying him. Then Caroline and all the fights happened. Nonetheless, she didn't want it to end like this.

She didn't want to die without really getting a chance to really _be_ with Stephen. He was the first real boyfriend she'd had in a while. He was a much better boyfriend then she expected him to be. So to be losing her relationship just as it was beginning, was heart wrenching. Not to mention: What if what the doctor's said was true?

Abby lost all feeling after that question crossed her mind.

_**0O0o0o0o0o0**_

"What are we doing? We've got to find Abby!" Connor commanded the people around him.

"We are trying Connor, you acting like a lunatic isn't helping anything." Stephen stressed, pacing up and down the pier.

"She's your girlfriend! You should be raking this lake like crazy!" Connor yelled.

"You don't think I want to? We were ordered to stay here!" Stephen argued back.

"That thing has taken Abby and you're worried about _orders_?" Connor's voice was thick with venom.

"Well, I don't see why you care so much! You've spent the last few weeks making her life hell with that Caroline!" Stephen stopped his pacing and faced Connor.

"I'm not the one pressuring her into making herself sick! You know how Abby spent her morning? Hm? Do you?" Connor was on the verge of tears while spoke. Bravely, he shoved Stephen back by his shoulders, "Vomiting! That's how! She must have vomited six or seven times!"

"Connor, you had better calm yourself down." Stephen fumed, "And what are you going on about her vomiting for? She has food poisoning!"

"For a week straight? I don't think so." Connor countered.

"Would you two kindly shut-up? Neither of you are helping to get Abby back." Cutter stepped between the two men.

"Right, so now the girl is dead? This is a recovery effort?" Lester's voice entered the conversation.

"She's not dead!" Stephen and Connor both yelled.

* * *

_**And Boom! Thats all for now! I hope you can't figure out what I'm doing quite yet! Do hope you enjoyed though! Connor wants to fight with everyone. I wonder why? Misery loves company I suppose. THANK YOU IMJUSTANERD! **_

_**Thanks for reading!**_

_**RAWR**_


	4. Saving Abby

Abby felt her chest tighten as she came too. Her eyes slid open, only to be stung by the water surrounding her. Memories of the last time she was conscious came flooding into her mind. Without thinking she kicked her feet to swim upward, and to her surprise she was able to.

As foul as the air smelled and as bad it burned her nostrils: the air she breathed in once she broke through the face of the water was the sweetest air she'd ever inhaled. It was precious air she thought she was never have a chance to breathe again.

After sucking in as much air as she could, she bellowed out, "Help! Help!"

She coughed water out then took back to yelling.

Each time she yelled, her fears were confirmed by her voice echoing back to her. From what she could see through the iron bars holding her down in the water tank, she was in some sort of warehouse. Alone.

Bubbles erupted next to her in water, causing her hold body tensed, ready to fight once more. Much to her surprise another person came up out of the water. He instantly began yelling, "Help!" as well.

"Lucien?" Abby breathed.

"I thought you were dead!" The boy confessed, spitting some water out of his mouth.

"What is this place?" Abby asked as she hooked her fingers around the iron bars to keep her head above water.

"I don't know." He answered in a hopeless tone, "They took us down here though, those things."

Abby's mind churned that over for a minute. She then removed one of her hands from the iron bars, then slammed it back against them, in attempt to knock them loose.

"Don't waste your time. Already tried that." Lucien advised.

"We have to try." Abby turned her head sharply towards Lucien, "Come on, help me."

Both began trying to beat the bars loose. Several times, they slammed the palms against the bars, each time producing the same result: none.

Suddenly, one of the Mers was standing on the upper side of the bars, roaring down at them. Both of them ducked under the water at the sudden appearance of the creature.

When they reemerged the creature was gone once more.

"We're gonna die aren't we?" Lucien asked.

While that thought had crossed Abby's mind, she didn't dwell on it.

"My friends are looking for us." Abby reassured him. "They're gonna be here soon."

"They don't even know we're alive." Lucien added.

Abby pulled in a few more labored breaths, "They'll find us. I promise."

0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Can someone please do something with these two before they kill each other?" Lester mused unhappily.

"Nothing to do with em! If they're going to fight it out, at least them do it now so they won't go off alone and really kill each other." Cutter growled at the nonsense going on.

"Does Connor think he actually has a chance fighting Stephen?" Lester quipped.

Cutter looking away from the sonar machine for a second and towards the verbal argument going on about ten meters away. "Apparently."

"Why were you so daft to let her come out if she was sick?" Stephen tightened his fist, resisting the urge to bring it up and punch Connor.

"She won't listen to anyone. She's your girlfriend you should know that." Connor was gripping his own fist so tightly that his knuckles were white. "Besides, she is mad at me, isn't she?"

"That's right! She is mad at **you**, Connor. And why is that? Why is it that she comes over to my flat crying over something you've done?" Stephen took a few steps back from the younger man. Having him within striking distance wasn't a good thing at this point.

Connor didn't answer back at first. He glared at Stephen, wishing at that moment looks could kill.

"Because I was stupid." Connor sighed, giving up the argument. Also processing the information Stephen had just given him.'

That's what happened each time after they had an argument? She went over to Stephen's and cried? The entire he thought Stephen was reaping the benefits of angry sex.

Stephen didn't say anything else to Connor. He knew Connor was just as worried about Abby as he was. He knew that their fighting wasn't going to bring Abby back any quicker.

"Are you two done now?" Lester asked with an annoyed tone.

"Yeah." Both men muttered.

"Good. Connor and Cutter to go home. Stephen, what do you need?"

"I can't leave! Abby is still out there!" Connor argued.

Lester looked over to Jenny and nodded, "Take him home."

The dark headed woman nodded back and put a comforting hand on Connor's shoulder; then started to lead him away.

0O0o0o0o0o0

Stephen's mind was so mucked up with worrying over Abby, he could barely concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing. His eyes never left the monitor screen, but he couldn't see it. His eyes were so blurred over with tears, it was impossible to see anything. They must have combed over the canal two times already, with not a single trace of Abby to be found.

"What now, Sir?" The boat driver asked as they finished their third round.

"Again. Are you sure this thing is focused right?" Stephen roughly wiped the tears away with his wrist and studied the screen once more.

"Yes, Sir." The man answered and turned the boat to start all over again.

"She has to be here!" Stephen shoved the small computer towards the solider beside him. "Fix it! I don't know whats wrong with it, but something is!"

Stephen stood and scanned over the water around them. How could he let this happen to Abby? Some kind of a boyfriend he was.

0O0o0o0o0o

Both Abby and Lucien continued with their calls of, "Help!"

Sooner or later they were going to lose their voices or their air one. The pipe suspended above them was pouring water down into their tank, causing the water in it to rise rapidly.

"What do you think they are? Those things." Lucien asked.

"I don't know, but if they were going to kill us, they would have killed us already." Abby offered a bright response. "There is a reason why we're still alive."

"You won't tell my mates will you?"

"Huh?"

"That I'm scared."

Abby wanted to laugh, but this wasn't the time, "You're not scared. Seriously now, who'd be frightened of a giant tadpole?"

That earned a small laugh from Lucien, keying to Abby it was okay to laugh as well.

"You're fine, honestly, you're fine." Abby comforted him the best she could, given their present situation.

0O0o0o0o0o0

"We've swept the whole canal."

"Well, sweep it again." Stephen ordered, watching the screen in front of him nervously.

He heard the solider next to him, sigh heavily. He knew this had been a long day, but it was going to turn into a long night if Abby wasn't found soon.

"Wait!" His eyes caught something on the screen, " Go back! Back it up, back it up.

"There! Try down there."

"Listen the opening is too small, it'll smash up the sub" The solider said.

"I'll buy you a new one." Stephen urged the man on. "Just keep going.

This could be it, it could be his key to finding Abby.

Not even minutes later, the anomaly detector began to chime.

"The anomaly, its reopened," Stephen knelt down to the the sub controls and began twisting knobs.

"You'll crash it!" The solider argued.

"Sue me." Stephen countered, watching the screen for any sign of a trail to follow.

0O0o0o0o0o

The water was rising much faster than was reassuring for Abby and Lucien. She continued to yell for help.

Abby didn't know what was going through Lucien's mind, but she knew very well what was going through hers.

"Lucien, I'm going to tell you a secret, because if this is it, I don't want to die without telling someone."

"We're not dying Abby! We're not." Lucien yelled back at her, his tone was less than convincing.

"Well, even if we do live, its still a secret." Abby choked up some water.

"Okay." The boy caved.

Abby took in a few breaths, she didn't know if it was true or not, but she wanted someone to know.

"I'm—going to have a baby." She confessed.

"Congrats. I won't tell anyone if you don't tell anyone I was scared."

"I promise." Abby nodded the best she could.

"Promise." Lucien concurred.

Suddenly there was a loud sounds of someone beating a wall and it caving.

"We're not going to drown. Its going to be okay." Abby could barely finish her sentence before being drug down into the water once more.

She fought trying to get away from the creature, but as before, it was useless.

It seemed like seconds later, she was being thrown out of the water and onto a hard metal service. She coughed out the water that had managed to find its way into her lungs.

"Abby!" A very familiar voice yelled.

She snapped her head towards the direction of voice, "Connor!"

A huge smile grew on his face, "Abby!"

Suddenly, the water in front of Abby was bubbling furiously and one of the creatures came out of it.

The next few things were a blur for Abby. It was as if she was watching from outside her body. Connor ran towards her, only for the creature to smack him back down into the water. Abby took a chance to kick the Mer, amazingly enough she did a fairly good job at it.

Then the creature came back up and lunged at her. Forcing her and itself through the anomaly.

The next thing she could really focus on was Connor restricting her from falling down the side of a cliff and into the jaws of the Mer.

"There is no sense in both of us dying!" Abby pleaded with Connor to let her go. If she was going to die, she didn't want to take her best mate with her.

"I can't!" Connor yelled.

"PLEASE!" Tears streamed from Abby's eyes.

"I love you!" Connor yelled, his hand tightening around Abby's.

He knew he'd done something terribly wrong by the expression that grew over Abby's face. It was utter shock and disbelief.

Abby almost let go of Connor's hand due to shock at his statement. She couldn't believe her ears. Maybe the air quality and water-log and almost dying were all messing with her head.

The Mer was coming for her again, she didn't have time to think about her mind's tricks. The sweat being produced from their palms wasn't making this an easier. She felt their hands slipping apart, slowly sliding her towards the horrid creature waiting right below.

Just when her hope was beginning to completely bottom out, her body was jerked upwards. Suddenly she was pulling pulled over the edge of the cliff by several sets of strong hands. Her body went limp when she felt the solid ground underneath her and the strong arms wrapped tightly around her.

It felt so good to not be alone, to be around friends. It felt so good to be safe. She heard a spray of bullets go off around her. She forcefully jerked her head to looks at the situation. Cutter and Stephen both a had guns, firing off in every direction.

Wait. If Stephen was there shooting the Mers; then that means...

Abby slowly turned her head to see Connor watching the scene around them as well, his arms still securely wrapped around her. Not to mention her arms were tightly wound around him as well.

Finally the sound of bullets stopped.

"Abby!" Stephen called, running up behind her.

Connor's arms instantly retracted when Stephen hit his knees next them. Abby was shifted sideways by Stephen's arms when he engulfed her in a tight hug.

"Abby. Abby." He showered her with kisses all over her head and face. "I was so worried!"

Abby's arms slowly slid around Stephen, as much as the position allowed.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know where you were!" He shifted his arms to lift her. "I promise I'm going to make up for it."

"Stephen," She wanted to fight his attempt to carry her, but it felt nice.

Especially after being held up by all of her body weight, being thrown around by a Mer, kept in a tank for a day, not having eaten in over a day. . . yeah, it was okay. She laid her head on his shoulder as he lifted her. His arms stashed under her knees and arms.

"Thank you Connor. I would have lost her if it wasn't for you." She heard Stephen say.

Connor mumbled back a, "No problem."

"I'm sorry about before." Stephen continued, making Abby wonder what had happened.

Being surrounded by safety and comfort made Abby want to fall asleep and stay that way for days though. But she couldn't do that right now. Resting her eyes was okay though. She could just listen to the chatter going on around her.

She knew by the sudden change in the air quality they were back on the other side of the anomaly.

"Abby, we're going to have you examined." She heard Stephen whisper to her.

"No." Her eyes snapped open, "I'm fine. I don't want to be examined."

"Abby, the medic is already here." Cutter offered.

"No!" Abby snapped back.

"Okay," Stephen's voice has switched to a calming one. "You don't have to. We were just worried."

"Please put me down." Abby ordered gently.

Stephen complied.

"I'm fine. Honestly. I just need to eat and get some sleep. My head is just kind of spinning." Abby looked at Connor, who was nervously standing off to the side.

"Are you sure?" Stephen stared down at her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure." Abby switched her vision over to look at Stephen. She put a weak smile up.

That's when Abby witnessed something. A strange twinkle sparked in Stephen's eye.

"Abby, I've missed you so much. And I was so worried. I really thought I was never going to see you again. It made me think" Stephen was for some reason grinning.

"Abby!" Connor interrupted as if he knew what was coming next, "Rex. He's missed you, lets not keep him waiting."

"Rex! Oh my God!" Abby broke away from Stephen and hurried over towards where Connor was. "Stephen, I've got to go. I'm sorry. I'll talk to you later."

Connor was proud of his intervention. He has no idea where Stephen's thoughts were leading, but he didn't want to find out.

There was a sudden urge in him to keep Abby as far away from Stephen as possible. Just seeing Stephen kiss and dote on her made some kind of foreign rage of jealousy bubble up in Connor's stomach that he had no idea how to control.

"Abby?" Stephen called after her, causing her to stop momentarily.

"Yeah?" She smiled back at him, looking absolutely brilliant despite the make-up running down her face.

"I'll come by later, yeah? I would come now, but," He motioned towards the scene of military officers surrounding them.

"Yeah, okay. Sure." That was all Abby got to say, before Connor pulled her from the warehouse.

* * *

_**THATS ALL FOR NOW! I start my job on Monday and college the week after that! Pray for me! I hope you still haven't figured it out and still enjoy it!**_

_**Thanks for reading!**_

_**RAWR**_


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